so how was your 3-day weekend? our's was filled with lots of shopping and lots of eating!

saturday morning we headed downtown to check out snigrab, which claims it's the worlds largest ski and snowboard sale. well, we didn't see any scorching deals. i guess if you're looking for new skies or boarding gear, you can find some good deals (up to 70%, so the signs kept telling us), but if you're like me and just looking for new goggles (only save $10!) or gloves (again, saving only $10), it didn't seem all that great. i think i'll wait for the REI member garage sale at the end of the month.

after buying our 4-packs (dude, copper mountain for $84?!?! that's just $21/lift ticket!), we walked a few blocks down to civic center plaza where they were having a taste of colorado. this was the coolest food festival EVER! there were lots and lots of restaurants representing, and they had "tastes" of their food so you didn't have to buy a whole entree. what a great idea! here's what we ate:
a very hot (heat hot) louisiana hot link from Alpine Sausage Co
mui delicioso tacos al pastor (that's bbq pork) from Armadillo Border Grill
yummy buffalo wings from An's Lemongrass Grille
tried fried alligator for the first time at Bayou Bob's (tasted like chicken)
had the tiniest taste ever of the buffalo beer brat from Colorado Buffalo Grill
really great crab cakes from Del Mar Crab House (with lots of real crab, no fillers!)
super spicy BBQ wings from D's Gourmet Wings (my mouth was on FIRE)
the best BBQ pork ribs i've had so far from Famous Dave's
tacos and nachos (with queso...yum!) from Tacqueria Jalisco
super creamy mushroom ravioli from Maggiano's
shrimp cocktail from The Broker Restaurant (their prime rib sandwich looked GOOD, but they didn't offer a taste)
refreshing mozzarella caprese and yummy penne w/sausage and mushroom from Venice Ristorante
and for dessert...
chocolate hazelnut gelato (soooo goooood) from Panzano
my favorite festival food, funnel cake! from Roro's Funnel Cakes
a chocolate chip cookie from The Cookie Jar

there were definitely places i want to go try for a real meal (like famous dave's! i'm telling you, those ribs...mmmm...). i think they should do more of those food festivals! we tried 3 new places this weekend too! we've been trying to eat at a new restaurant every weekend. we ate at illegal pete's, which to our surprise turned out to be mexican food! we had yummy sandwiches and soup from the spicy pickle (we have so many good sandwich chains by our house it's ridiculous). and finally tried bennett's bbq (the ribs weren't great, but the brisket was very good. so was their garlic bread!).

now for the shopping part of our weekend. we decided to buy some furniture for our formal living room and guest bedroom, and also buy some more decor for our house. we found some scorching deals on furniture and artwork and fake plants (sometimes you have to buy fake, trust me). but my favorite bargain find this weekend was my $20 north face track jacket (on clearance at REI). we did tons of driving back and forth, trying to find the best deals for the best frames, so hopefully we'll have all our new artwork up and ready. we budgeted some money for our little shopping spree, and i think we did pretty good. we'll have to see how much we have left to retile the kitchen counters and get a new sink and faucet. *sigh* it's never-ending. home-ownership is draining...mentally, physically and financially! just keep thinking resale value...